Filipino police claimed on Wednesday they seized a Chinese boat and detained its 11 crew members in South China Sea waters after it was found to have hauled in 500 turtles, in the latest escalation of the increasingly bitter territorial dispute between Philippines and China.

The contact had been lost with 11 fishermen in the South China Sea, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

China also angrily responded that demanded the release of the boat and its crew. In addition, China claims the shoal is part of its territory and urged the Philippines to “stop taking further provocative action.”

China claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts or all of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei, report said.

There are clashes happening in the South China Sea between China and the other claimant countries such like Vietnam and Philippines.